


It Only Takes A Moment

by colonel_bastard



Series: Lodestar [4]
Category: Treasure Planet (2002)
Genre: M/M, Missing Scene, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 14:30:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3940330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colonel_bastard/pseuds/colonel_bastard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The whole world is <i>literally</i> falling apart around them and it doesn't even matter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Only Takes A Moment

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe this never occurred to me before but I suddenly woke up this morning with this fic fully-formed in my head. Because who doesn't love a good old-fashioned Now or Never Kiss. 
> 
> Title is taken from [this wonderful song from Hello, Dolly!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qazULtKJD1s) The full lyric is: _it only takes a moment to be loved a whole life long._

-

\- 

-

It’s all happening so fast. 

They’re standing face to face, Jim with a sword in his hands and Silver advancing on him with that _look_ in his eyes— that awful, empty look— and then all at once the deck lurches underfoot and they’re both thrown overboard. Jim pitches up over the railing and then skids down the tilted platform below, _fast_ , too fast to do anything but grab uselessly at the flat, slick surface and then at the empty air. 

Then he’s falling, his stomach rushing up into his mouth, flailing around for anything, _anything_ that could save him. Somehow he manages to snag on to a projection on the opposite wall. God, you never really know how heavy you are until your whole weight is hanging from your fingertips. 

He’s blind with panic. _Hold on hold on hold on._ But he can’t hold on forever. He’s got about sixty seconds before he loses his grip and drops straight down into that hellhole below. The fear is so intense that it becomes a tangible, physical agony. This is how he always knew it would be. He always knew he would die alone. 

“ _Reach for me, now!_ ”

He turns his head and sees John Silver stretching out his hand. And in that moment, right then, right there, Jim forgives him for everything he’s ever done. 

Without hesitation, he tears one of his own hands away from the wall and stretches it out in answer.

“ _Reach!_ ” Silver commands, and Jim obeys with every inch of his body, his muscles drawn out to the breaking point, his shoulder on the verge of dislocation.

They’re so close. It’s got to be a matter of inches left between them, but it might as well be the span of the galaxy. Jim has never felt so scared or so young. 

“ _I can’t!_ ” he sobs. 

His handhold disappears. He’s falling again. It’s even worse the second time, now that he knows Silver doesn’t want him to die. 

_He’s trying to save me. He wants to save me._

_It was real._

It was real, all of it was real, Silver was _real,_ and Jim’s only going to have a handful of heartbeats to let the truth of that go pounding through his blood. His fingertips catch on the only remaining projection and he clings to it, his eyes boiling with tears, his legs scrabbling in vain for purchase. Everything hurts. He’s terrified. _Please. Not like this._

The last handhold recedes into the wall. It’s over now. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Silver rushing toward him, hand extended. Jim grabs for him with everything he’s got. _I’m going to reach him or die trying._ Not such a bad way to go, after all. 

He doesn’t expect it. He really doesn’t. He doesn’t even dare to hope for it— but then Silver’s massive hand closes around his wrist and doesn’t let go. Jim’s hand spasms into a fist around the material of his jacket, his whole body jolted right down to the bones as Silver catches his weight and holds him there, swinging like a pendulum above the fiery pit. 

For just one moment they make eye contact. Jim sees the exact same desperate relief on Silver’s face that he feels on his own. It’s plain that he was just as scared that he wouldn’t make it in time. 

Then, with a tremendous grunt of effort, Silver pulls Jim back up again, swinging him to the edge of the platform and not letting go until Jim is safely up and over. Jim clambers the rest of the way onto the flat surface while Silver hooks his elbows over the lip of it and hauls himself back up beside him. They kneel there, silent, breathing hard, stunned and shaken by what a close call it really was. 

A crackling roar catches their attention. They look up and see the salvaged skiff, loaded with treasure, being sucked into the nearest energy beam. It erupts like a firework, gems and drabloons showering down into the void, the last of Flint’s trove, gone forever. 

_That’s what held him back,_ Jim realizes. _He was holding on to the treasure. The only way to save me was if he let it go. And he let it go._

_It was real._

Jim is paralyzed. Silver grabs him by the shoulders and turns him so that they’re kneeling face to face.

“Are ye all right, Jimbo?” he asks, his voice cracked with worry. 

“Yeah,” Jim nods weakly. “Yeah, I’m okay.” 

His hands reach up of their own accord to grab the lapels of Silver’s jacket, his fingers curling instinctively around the heavy material. Silver’s got that _look_ in his eyes— that aching, adoring look— as his hands move, too, the cybernetic one moving down from Jim’s shoulder to the middle of his back, the organic one sliding up to cradle the back of Jim’s head and neck. It’s got to be a matter of inches left between them, but it might as well be nonexistent.

The whole world is _literally_ falling apart around them and it doesn’t even matter. _It was real._ Every single moment they ever shared together, everything that Jim has been fighting to deny and forget ever since he climbed out of that barrel, comes flooding back into his system in a thunderous rush. _It was all real._ Jim’s chest feels like it’s about to burst with light. His heart has never beat so hard or so loud. It’s all happening so fast. 

And Silver kisses him. 

Jim closes his eyes and loses himself in it, in Silver’s broad hands and powerful arms cocooned around his body, surrounding him with _love._ This is _love_. Jim has never been so certain of anything. He yanks on Silver’s lapels and kisses him back, kisses him like he’s never kissed anyone before, like he’ll never kiss anyone else again. This is it. This is everything he’s ever wanted, everything he’ll ever need. Thirty seconds ago he was about to die alone and now he knows he’ll never truly be alone again.

Sparks are falling all around them like rain. Silver crushes Jim against him like he’ll never be able to hold him close enough, his cybernetic arm whirring with the effort, his organic fingers tangled possessively in Jim’s hair. Jim’s hands end up around the back of Silver’s neck, his fingers locked together so nothing can ever pry him off again and he can stay there forever. He pulls Silver’s bottom lip between his teeth and bites him hard, claiming him. Silver answers with a loud, guttural moan, his nails digging into Jim’s scalp, his whole huge body shuddering with emotion. 

An enormous mechanical stalactite abruptly breaks loose from the ceiling and smashes down into the chasm at their backs. They jerk away from each other in surprise, their heads twisting in astonishment towards the source of the explosion, as though they’d each managed to forget where they were. When they look back at each other, Jim is smiling like an idiot and Silver looks like he’s about to weep. 

Overwhelmed with devotion, Jim takes Silver’s face in his hands and pulls him down to press their foreheads together. Silver closes his eyes. Jim does, too. For just one second longer, they share the same breath. Then—

“A’right, lad,” Silver exhales raggedly. “We gotta move.”

Then they’re running, and Jim feels like he’s flying, racing over the crumbling ruins with Silver at his side. Morph is sailing along between them, chirping and purring like it’s all a game, and Jim almost laughs because he can still hardly believe it’s true. He can hardly believe that just happened. 

As they burst out of the portal and into the light, he can’t help himself. He just wants to hear it out loud. 

“Silver!” he calls. “You gave up the—?”

“Just a lifelong obsession, Jim,” Silver swipes his wrist against his mouth. “I’ll get over it.” 

When he turns his wrist to examine it, Jim knows that he’s checking for blood from his bitten lip. He doesn’t find any, but when he glances over at Jim, it’s clear that he wouldn’t have been unhappy if he had. Jim grins at him with fierce adoration. He’s about to say something stupid— _next time you won’t get off so easy_ —

—but then the Legacy arrives and there isn’t any time. 

 

 

 

____________end.


End file.
